


Unexpected Expectations

by PhZXgames



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-17
Updated: 2017-02-17
Packaged: 2018-09-25 03:45:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9801257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhZXgames/pseuds/PhZXgames
Summary: Talos Isai was a Huntsman with his sister Sergey. They were on a mission when he sacrificed himself to save his team. Or did he? This story runs parallel with chrisfiggy's story called, "A Legend Falls Among Roses." I DON'T OWN RWBY! Rated M for lemon and language.





	1. Chapter 1

-o0 Two Years Earlier 0o-

"Vacuo, eh?" 

"I AM NOT GOING TO THAT FORSAKEN SAND COUNTRY!" 

"We're supposed to take out all the Grimm in the area. With our skills, It'll be a piece of cake!" 

"What if I don't like cake?" 

"Piece of pie!" 

"What if I don't like pie either?" 

"Then I don't like you." 

"You have to, you're my sister." 

My beautiful Team MSST, pronounced Mist, was returning from Vale, then going to our next mission in the west-bordering kingdom, Vacuo. We were having our usual fun when something had altered my sister's mood.

"The Vytal Festival is supposed to happen soon. I don't want to miss it." 

"Sergey, you can't miss it. It's damn near impossible. The fights will be broadcasted across the whole world." 

"It's too bad we can't participate." Saturn seemed to chuckle slightly after I said that. 

"Talos, if we were to fight in that tourney, there would be no doubt who would win." 

"Yeah we'd kick all their asses!"

"Geez mars, why are you so bubbly today?" 

"So when are we heading out?" 

"In about a half-hour." 

Well I might as well refill my weapon. I walked into an old shop called "From Dust Till Dawn." 

"Hey you got any Dust-Fuel?" The owner behind the counter nodded and pointed to the back of the shop. "Thanks."

I took a container off the shelf and took a whiff. That's nostalgic. Smells like cinnamon. Definitely Fire. I reached for another and smelled it. Peppermint. Hmm. Air. I kept taking the scent of each canister, because it allowed me to know what the element is for the fuel. My weapon, Golganir, Is a three pointed giant shuriken with blaster ports for firing Rezai (Sharp, arrowhead-like stones.) It detonates the fuel to fire the Rezai, and in doing so, it creates an effect. Is that magnolia? Yes… Water. Tangerine… Lightning. Vetiver… Earth.

I grabbed one off the "New" shelf and smelled it. This is remarkably unfamiliar. I recognize the scent, but not the element. The owner must've seen me, because he said aloud, "That's Dragon's Blood."

Dragon's Blood!?

"Isn't that a little hard to come by, Even for you?" I said to him. 

"It is very hard. Though you might want to try some. Here, let me see…" The man searched in his desk and pulled out what seemed to be a canister of the Dragon's Blood Dust Fuel. "400 Lien." 

"Four Hundred?! That's outrageous for a small canister like that!" He shrugged and asked if I wanted the regular. "Yes, and fine… I'll try your Dragon's Blood."

He listed off my purchase, "Two Deathweaver Venom cans, one Lightning can, four Void cans, and one Dragon's Blood can. That will be 1400 Lien." I handed him a few cards. After a couple beeps, and the crinkle of the bag, he said, "have a nice day!"

I walked out of the store and walked towards the square. Great. now time to reload before we leave. I checked the time and I saw that it was 14:05… Five minutes… they're obviously waiting for me. After running into the square, I slid two of the venom fuel cans into their respective slots, and popped the clip into place. I demagnetized it from my arm and onto my back.

"Oh so you're early now. Well hurry up, we gotta get going. Saturn, now." Saturn took one of the discs off his back, and set it on the ground. "Warp, Vacuo!" All four of us were sucked into it, and after a moment of nausea, blindness, numbness, and pain that could match hell on earth, we were in Vacuo. Everybody was looking at us like we were aliens, and that's kind of what we are to some people. "Well... Vacuo!" Sergey took of her cloak and and tied it around her waist. 

"Well we're definitely in the hottest place in Remnant."

I picked up something. "There's a White Fang protest here." Ugh… not them again. 

"WE WANT FREEDOM! WE WANT FREEDOM!" 

Oh my god. They're more annoying than ever! "Can someone please get me out of this crap." I folded my ears down to deafen myself. 

"We'll be on our mission soon. don't worry." 

I am a faunus. And probably the only one who despises the White Fang. My sister, who is also a faunus of course, couldn't care less.

A sixteen year old hunter and fifteen year old huntress, paired with a twenty year old midget Huntress and a twenty-two year old psycho Huntsman. "Augh. I'm done with those idiots!" My eye caught onto a cat Faunus, with black hair and a ribbon rolling off her back. She made eye contact with me and shivered, then continued protesting. "God how long is this damn thing?"

These damn people never move. 

"Might as well explore the half of the city we CAN access." 

FUCK 

"I guess it's about time we find the hunter we're shadowing for the next week." I searched high and wide but couldn't find the guy. I re-read the job description. HOW THE HELL DOES THIS GUY HAVE GREEN HAIR, AND I HAVEN'T FOUND HIM YET!? Then I saw something in the corner of my eye. A green-haired man, and my team, on the other damn side of the riot. Well thank god I found a way around it, because my team was now talking to said green-haired man, and pointing at me.

I walked around the entire damn mob, and quickly ran to my team. As I was nearing I heard someone yell, "You're a faunus! Join us!" I ignored them and kept running. After I stopped to face my team, the green-haired man reached out his hand. "I'm Mythril. Nice to meet you." 

I paused and shook his hand. "Talos. Pleasure." 

"The area of the desert I need you to clear out is all my brother's property, and I could never do it alone."

I noticed the nicely sized sword the man had. It was bigger than his torso and legs combined. Seeing that he stood six feet tall, that was one large sword. "Well I can get the airship ready, but you two will need to scout ahead. There's a sandstorm coming, and I hear faunus have better sight in one than a human." Me and Sergey nodded. Then he looked over at Mars and Saturn. "You two will be the main driving arm, while protecting me. My Semblance is difficult to charge, and will be a very desperate last second attack if you need it." 

Saturn nodded, and Mars did her cute "WOO! FIGHTING!" thing.

After getting in the ship, Sergey had received a new attitude. She was serious, and it kinda scared me. "Hey Sergey, you alright?" 

She didn't answer. "Sergey?" 

Then she jumped. "Oh sorry. yeah I'm fine!" 

I was sensing something different about her. "What's on your mind?" 

"Oh nothing… I'm just getting hyped for the mission!" She said sort of fake-cheerily

"You're full of shit." 

She giggled a little. 

"I just had a thought is all. I mean, if I ever lost you, I'd be alone. I'd never be myself again." 

That was when I had to cheer her up. "You know I'll never die. I'm too damn stubborn."

Then we landed. Talk about a nice scene. Grimm were probably sniffing us out by now, and were on their way to kill us. I mean they're just Grimm… Right? 

"Well, well, well, I see someone had the guts to show up." There was a guy standing at the door of the small ship, and all I could think was: what the hell is up with your hair? 

"I'm Orichalcum. You'll be clearing out my land for me." This man stood about the same height as Mythril, but he had pink hair and a tuxedo, instead of the bright green hair, and a combat suit. Very striking difference. 

"So go now, right?" I said.

Mythril nodded, and Sergey and I started running across the 300 hectare property. God I'd be seventy years old before I finish running around this damn plot.

Does "Pink-hair" know that farming is a bad idea in Vacuo?! Amazingly, we found our first Grimm about 200 meters out. Two beowolves. Easy. Sergey drew her swords, and I grabbed Golganir. She slashed at the first one with insane speed and power, and I fired two Rezai at the other, one in each eye. I fired a third one, right through it's armor. They both dissolved into black dust that merged with more that was kicked up by the wind. 

"Well Mythril was right. Here comes the storm." Sergey put her cloak back on, and though it wasn't helping much, she definitely look more badass than ever.

More grimm. Grimm. All life on this damn plot besides us was grimm. We even took down a goliath. I realized we had made a giant loop and the ship was sitting about 500 meters away. none of them had noticed us mainly because of the two deathstalkers they were fighting. We decided to rush in and assist, with me in the lead. I fired a couple rezai through Saturn's big disk, signaling that we were there. Then, Mars shouted out "Orbital Hell!" which was Mars and Saturn's Team attack. Saturn grabbed the middle disk, and Mars grabbed her staff. Saturn aligned the disk shadow with one of the grimm's, and then Mars impaled her staff into the disk, causing a portal to open up and giant staff to fall out of the sky onto the grimm.

"Release!" It was the voice command on my shuriken to unleash all the rezai in the front clip. Unfortunately, about half of them missed due to my target dashing out of the way. 

Wait... How the hell did do that? the sudden movement threw off Sergey as well and she shot me a puzzled look. I returned it with a shrug, and pressed a button on the venom gas container. 

The grimm suddenly started to give off green smoke and then it dissolved into the usual black ash. 

"Fuck. what's your kill count?" 

Mars quickly replied "Thirty-four… you?" 

"Sixty. Well sixty-one if you count Mr. Acidified over here." 

"I've got you both beat" Sergey called out, "Seventy-two and counting." 

How the hell does she do it? 

"Nice sis. Now we have like 200 more hectares to go." 

Mythril shouted out, "Alright, you two, fan out. We've covered the perimeter, so aim for the center. You two, protect me and my brother." I nodded and ran to the front of the squad.

Wasn't very eventful actually until we got 700 meters out from our position. A king taijitu had slithered it's way over, dragging it's white half along with it. They both attacked me at once, so I had to think fast. I detached Golganir and threw it at the white half. As it connected, it sank it's way into it's eye, killing it, then I jumped and grabbed my weapon out of it's dissolving body, and drove it through the bone-armor of the black half. "Sixty-two" I said, as it dissolved behind me. 

"Maybe you should check behind you." I turned around to see something like fifteen beowolves, and then I thought something… "Prism Annihilation!" I reloaded the one of the clips with my special glass rezai, and shot one over the group of Grimm. Sergey pulled out one of her swords, turned it into a staff, and fired a white light laser at the rezai. The thing detonated, leaving behind fire, lightning, ice, and a million other things I could never name. 

We hi-fived, but our celebration was short lived. More were coming.

-o0o-o0O0o-o0o-

-o0 Final Day of Mission; 17:25 0o-

Almost over, Jesus Christ. "Hey, what's you kill count for the week?" 

"432, yours?" Well my sister IS a badass. 

"297. How do you do it?" 

"I went out last night for some extra fun. got like thirty of them." 

To put it short, we found a Nest. A "Nest" is where grimm spawn insanely frequently, and with every Nest comes a queen, but we haven't found it yet. They're supposed to be a mutated grimm that's much larger than any anybody's ever faced. only two queens have been ever killed, compared to the seventy places that are confirmed to be Nests. So this is Dracón. The second smallest Nest ever found.

Our new mission: to find and eliminate the queen. 

_I'm not a queen hunter you dumbass. We've been looking for two days, and now it's the last day to find it or we fail. Fun._ I thought to myself

"Hey Talos, I know this is weird, but do you think we'll ever find it?" 

"The queen? Hell yeah! I have a feeling about today!" 

Mars jokingly said, "You've said that everyday dumbass." 

"I know BUT I GOT A FEELING!" 

Then Mythril stopped dead in his tracks. "What is it this time? Hello? Mythril?" I tried talking to him but he was just stuck on the spot with fear spewn across his face. 

Orichalcum tried talking to him too, with no avail. "What's going on?"

My worst fears were confirmed about the situation when I heard the wingbeats of a nevermore, but they sounded much larger. Just then, something came into view that resembled a deathstalker, nevermore, and a king taijitu. "What the hell is that?!" 

Then Mythril decided to speak, "The Queen."

It was not alone. Six nevermore, eight deathstalkers, and a few king taijitu had followed it, and knowing it's power, an army of lesser grimm was bound to follow. "HOLY CRAP!" I took out Golganir and prepared for a fight. 

HOLY HELL! WHERE DID ALL THESE DAMN THINGS COME FROM? 

"War Mirror!" Shouted Mars. I shot one of my glass rezai at the group of nevermore, and then Mars impaled it with an iron spike. Mars then jumped onto it, used mercury to fire a makeshift beam laser. It bounced off the rezai, and proceeded to burn the grimm surrounding it. A few more grimm showed up to join the party. Two ursa. I took Golganir and bounced it off of Sergey's shield, to have it take down one of the nevermore. Then the queen landed. It made the worst possible noise anything could ever make, even worse than nails on a goddamn chalkboard.

The grimm became stronger suddenly, like, noticeably stronger. Before I had the time to think, Mars was down and screaming. "GET OFF ME!" 

"They're too powerful! We can't beat them!" 

_It's the only way they can escape. I have to._

"Saturn! Get ready to warp out of here!" 

He looked shocked. "What?!" 

"I need you to trust me! Just do it!" He shook his head. 

"The aura I have left will only support five people for warp! We'd have to leave someone behind!" 

I smiled. "I know. That's my plan." Saturn's shocked face was back again. 

"You can't be serious!" I looked at him with content. 

"I am proud to have been the leader without a Semblance.. I have to do this now."

I mustered up more rage than I could ever imagine to attract the grimm to me. "Hey! I'm right here!" I ran to one of the deathstalkers, and rammed Golganir into the base of it's tail, severing it. I then turned around and slid under the sand-covered beast. I shoved my weapon into it's stomach, piercing the fur and hide, and drove myself through the body of the dark scorpion. The dissolving black dust faded off my body, and I was ready to kill another.

Murdering grimm heartlessly, one by one. Saturn was dragging Sergey away, telling they had to leave now, while their attention was on me. Everything all seemed so fast… Then something caught me off guard, A deathstalker had snuck up on me, and stabbed me through the chest. I could hear the screams from my sister as they were warped out safely. The mental, emotional, and especially the physical pain was damn-near unbearable, and as an insult to injury, the venom was now closing in on my heart.

The deathstalker unusually kept me impaled on it's tail, as the queen walked closer to me. More grimm were walking up, checking to see if I was still alive. I guess the two ursa were hungry, as the nearest one grabbed my left arm and tore it off. My right arm was severed from by body by the queen herself, having one of her king taijitu tails biting it off.

My last thoughts started swirling in my head. 

_Hey Sergey. Sorry if I was ever mean to you, I was only trying to toughen you up. You became a strong huntress in the six months that you, Mars, Saturn, and I were a team. I hope you grow up to become stronger, as I never did. I never did find my Semblance, and I guess now, I never will. Goodbye little sis. I love you. I'll see you on the other side…_


	2. Chapter 2

_But no._ I thought to myself. _I can't die. This isn't happening._

I then felt the symbol on my back burning. _I WILL NOT DIE!_

My body was taken over by a feeling of hatred, and rage, maliciously attacking everything around me. My Aura began to glow brighter, and then I felt it coming to me. My Semblance! It's… a new power I've never felt before… 

Normally, it would take one days to learn his or her Semblance. I figured mine out in four seconds flat. I thought about Golganir, and how I wanted to use it to kill everything, and it suddenly floated up to my hand… or where my hand used to be. I thought about by arm extending to the deathclaw that was still impaled into my chest. Golganir missed the first time I swung. Maybe it was the rage. Maybe it was the fact the I just figured out I had this not ten seconds ago. Who knows? I thought about doing it again, but this time shifting my weight to slam Golganir into the deathclaw.

Well as luck would have it, I succeeded, and the dead grimm's tail dissolved out of my body. It kinda tickled. I remembered the venom from the grimm that had once impaled me, and tried pulling it out of me. Well that worked, surprisingly… I returned Golganir to my back, and stared down the queen. The horrible sound came back, and it was starting to unnerve me, so I mentally shoved Golganir down her throat. It demagnetized automatically, and flew towards her face. But I missed, as she flapped her wings and pushed Golganir back to me

The queen must've commanded her minions to back off, because the entire time I was fighting her, they didn't intervene. That changed when my target on the queen shifted to the remaining grimm minions. I killed the two ursa to my sides and the three nevermore left. I swiped Golganir to my side, then the fact that it can shoot crossed my mind. I reloaded the clips mentally and they simply obeyed. I recalled the fact that there would be an army of lesser grimm that would approach soon. I threw Golganir at the queen again. Then I felt the sand at my feet shifting around me. Hmm… Quicksand? No, I would've noticed that by now.

Then I was shocked to see a beowolf. Not just any beowolf though, this one was thirteen feet tall. Ooh that'll be fun. I turned my attention to the new grimm, throwing Golganir at it. This one was prepared for it. He dropped his body and dodged it. _I bet you weren't expecting this though… were you?_ I called Golganir back in the same direction it traveled. The stupid beast raised its head to charge, but the shuriken sailed right into the back of its neck.

"I'm not going to lose. You won't stop me." The queen flew closer to me, getting ever closer as it tried to screech for more grimm to fight. "No it won't work. Now you're going to fight me alone." 

It roared a final time. "FIGHT ME!" I screamed, filled with unrivaled fury. It's my time to shine!

It was then the unthinkable happened. The queen of the nest Dracó had fled to fight another day. 

As soon as it was out of sight, I walked until I had reached a cave that protected me from the sandstorm that was brewing. I stayed at the mouth for about an hour until I felt that I was hungry. I searched deeper into the cave to find anything edible, still somewhat driven by rage. I guess it was motivating enough, because I found enough to feed a small child. Thank god I'm a Huntsman, I could live off this for days. After eating a few mushroom caps, I promptly went to sleep.

-o0o-o0O0o-o0o-

When I woke up, this feeling of dread came over me. I do not want to be in this forsaken fucking sand country any longer. I Imagined tearing off a piece of my scarf and making a pouch to store the food that was left, and it happened. It seemed as if I was running out of aura, so I decided I wouldn't use my Semblance until I felt recharged. I then attempted to get up, but the insane pain that fired all over my body prevented me from doing so.

Well at least I'll have something to keep my food in. It wasn't for days until I could walk again. I ventured deeper into the cave and found a spring. Finally thank god. I bent down and remembered my arms weren't a thing anymore, so I plunged my face into the water, opening my mouth and swallowing what entered. I emerged for air and sat near the wall of the cave.

My throat burned from dehydration and I swear that it hurt worse after I drank the water. It did help though, as my sense of vision was clearer and I could actually smell the foul odor of the mushrooms.

I heard a frog croak, and I instantly ran over to it and smashed my head into it, killing it. More food. Yay. I walked back to the mouth of the cave and looked outside. Cacti. That's all there is except rocks for freaking kilometers. I walked over to the cactus and felt a refreshing feeling, as if my aura had returned. I imagined slicing the cactus and Golganir flew up and came down on the unsuspecting plant, splitting it clean in half.

I was covered in the juice that WAS in the cactus, and I decided that a little taste might not be too bad. I instantly regretted my decision. I heard something behind me and I threw Golganir at it and simultaneously turned around. 

Well there goes my cave. 

I realized it was a hallucination when I touched one of the rocks and it floated back into the spot it was originally.

I made a mental note. DO NOT DRINK CACTUS JUICE, EVEN IF IT MAY QUENCH YOU. I decided to wait until the effects wore off. Those were the most terrifying 5 hours of my life. By then it was dark and I was feeling exhausted so I went back to my cave, and drifted to sleep.

The next few mornings were the same. Grimm woke me up, and I had to murder them. Why won't they leave me alone?! Though on the third afternoon, I tried falling asleep but I couldn't. I felt something burning on my back and I tried to ignore it, but it only made it worse. I thought it was from sleeping on my back at the time but it was lines of pain, not random areas. Though eventually, hypnosis training prevailed, and I fell asleep

-o0o-o0O0o-o0o-

-o0 Two Years Later; 5:30 0o-

I woke up as usual. Slaughtered grimm, ended a cactus for the spikes (I ran out of rezai) and eventually falling asleep. The only problem was that the two latter procedures were interrupted by something, someone to be exact. 

"Holy hell you look terrible! How long have you been out here?" She had snow-white hair and an Atleasian military uniform.

I decided to mess with her, because she seemed to have an air of authority and it was always funny to mess with those in authority. "Six thousand years… I have been waiting for someone to come to me... I can teach you the ways of no-hand-fu... but you must tell me why you have come."

"You're full of shit and you know it. Now tell me why you're out here, or I'll give you the fate you would've gotten if I hadn't arrived." She drew a sword and pointed it to my throat. 

"It's always amazing to watch the weak squirm under power's grasp. Isn't it?" I commented cheerfully, slightly pissing her off. 

"I will plunge this blade into your trachea if you don't tell me why you're out here." 

I chuckled, and started talking. "Well it all happened when me and my team left for a miss-" 

I was cut off by the worst noise of all time. "I've been hiding here for two years trying to avoid that, and you just happened to get her mad. Screw you." 

"Sorry if I was hunting 'it' down." I turned to her, showing both shock and anger on my face.

"Going after 'her' will be harder than you can handle" 

"That's my mission, and I don't care, because I can't lose." 

Reminds me of myself. 

I took a step back and calmed down. I took a better look at her while she was still here. She had long white hair up in a bun, with some in front of her face, and blue-grey eyes that reflected her authority. Her uniform resembled that of the Atlesian Army, but it was altered, probably because she was a specialist. The sword she wielded was similar to a katana and it could drop an estoc if she needed it. Wait how or why do I know that?

She demanded that I stay behind as she took care of the queen. Speak of the devil, the damn thing smashed into my cave, collapsing it. I looked to my sides to see boulders enveloping me. Wow. I never thought I'd find an upside to having no arms. 

I mentally lifted the boulders off of me and commanded Golganir to my side. She sat there dumbfounded.

I flung Golganir at the queen throwing it off guard, allowing the woman to jump in and slice at it a couple of times. As she was charging at the powerful Grimm, it seemed as if platforms of light appeared out of nowhere and she was using them as if she knew where they would be, when they would be there.   
"Cold-blooded demon. I want nothing to do with you. Release!" 

All of the cactus needles made contact with the Grimm, and the shrill screech that the beast let out caused the white woman to drop in agony. It instead filled me with familiar fury.

The beast realized it was in a losing fight alone, so it took off once more. 

The white woman got up and started screaming at it, demanding that it come back and fight. I laughed. 

"Hey Ice Queen, she's not coming back." She turned and looked at me furiously. 

"One, never call me that again. Two, 'it' is my mission. I can't leave without it dead." 

I looked down and smiled. "Now you know why I'm still here. I want to leave, but the mission I took on two years ago has prevented it mentally." Her face went from anger to confusion, and from that to the "OOOOOHHHHHHH" face.

"Wait… Talos?!" 

How does she know my name?! 

I put Golganir to her throat and asked her the question. 

"You're the Silver Prodigy! Talos Isai! Remember? Qrow taught you everything you know!" 

Now she's pissing me off. That name is familiar but I have no who they are. 

"Talos! Snap out of it!" 

I put Golganir down and asked her who this… "Qrow" was. 

"He's the head teacher at Signal. You were his shadow for six months. Granted, you knew who I was back then too." 

"What's your name then?"

"Winter Schnee. Atlas Military Specialist." 

_Huh, you call yourself special but you couldn't scratch the queen if you wanted to._

"Well, Winter… Can you do me a favor? I need you to take me to… Qrow, was it?" 

She nodded, and called for a dropship to come pick her up. When it finally arrived, Winter boarded it and told the pilot where to go. I got on and it instantly took off. "Wait, where is he right now?" 

She looked at me and responded in a business like tone, "He is in Vale, currently at his home near Signal Academy." 

We sat there in perfect silence, except for the roaring of the ship's engine, until the pilot told us we would be landing in a moment.

After landing, I stepped outside to feel the most familiar breeze on my face. Then I opened my mouth to taste the delicious air, but I was greeted by my most loathed enemy. Sand. 

"WHY ARE WE STILL HERE?" I yelled at her, feeling misled. 

"We're boarding the A.N.S. Nightfury in an hour. That will take you to Qrow." 

_A.N.S. Nightfury? That's odd. That's sounds familiar..._

I turned to her only to find her walking in the other direction. "WAIT? WHERE WILL IT BE?" She turned to me and rolled her eyes. "Right here, at the ship port." 

Right. Ha, silly me. Boy was that hour the longest hour of my life. I won't event go into detail.

When the ship finally arrived, I picked myself up off of the ground and saw Winter standing before me. 

"You remind me of your teacher. Lazy, drunken, And on the border of homeless." 

I laughed then said, "You forget. I am homeless." She laughed a little, but then her face went back to being formal and serious. 

"Wait, does he live in a box?" I asked. 

She must've imagined him living in a box, because not a second later, she burst out in hysterical laughter. "No, but I wouldn't call his house a million Lien mansion." We both walked onto the ship saying nothing to each other, mainly because Winter couldn't stop laughing. It was pretty funny, but she suddenly stopped and froze when a man in a formal suit walked up to her and began talking to her.

They trailed off and eventually came to the point to introduce me, and it went down like this. "Hey Ice Queen, I hate to intrude, but I need to use the restroom." Then the man turned to face me. He was tall with military-short black hair, and grey-white sideburns. His near-black colored eyes definitely contrasted with his formal white attire and his face reminded me of an ancient statue. The only two things that really seemed out of place was a small piece of metal sticking out above his right eye, and a glove over his right hand. "Oh, you must be Talos. I am General Ironwood." He reached out his hand then awkwardly put it back at his side.

"Talos, I do have a request for you, and it might solve your… Lack of grip." 

_I can grab shit just fine thank you very much._

"Are you going to glue plastic arms onto my body and call it good as new, because I tried that with cactus. It's doesn't work very well." 

He chuckled a little. 

Hmm. I wonder what he meant by that though. 

"Well what do you have in mind?" 

I stood there, in all my armless glory, waiting for a response. "I'll show you when we're in the air. Speaking of which, I need to go. Winter?" 

She stood up at attention. "Yes General?" 

He looked at her, then at me, and said, "Keep an eye on him. I don't need another one chickening out."

Well that was definitely the most awkward conversation I've had in a while, even if it is my third. Winter turned around to me, rolled her eyes, and started walking down the hall. About halfway down, she stopped and looked at me. She made the classic "Are you coming?" gesture with her hands, and I said "Well he said you were supposed to keep an eye out for me, not for me to follow you around." 

"If you honestly believe that you could disrespect me like that, you're going to earn what you deserve." 

I mistakenly said "And what would that be your highness?" She punched me square in the face, and I finally remembered she had a place of power in the world.

"So that's how it's going to be huh?" I detached Golganir from my back only to find it on the ground a few seconds later. "We are now in the air. Please me mindful of your surroundings." I adjusted to the ship's new gravity, and I picked up Golganir once more. I flung it at her, but before it could connect, someone grabbed it right out of the air. 

"Lieutenant, this ship costs seventeen million Lien. I do not want it destroyed by Monday. You hear?" 

That was extremely weird. I swear I heard metal-on-metal just a second ago, but Golganir never hit the ship…

The general threw me back my weapon, and I hurried over to where they were standing. "Hey general… Can I talk to you for a sec?" 

He replied, "What do you want?" Obviously annoyed. 

"Metal-on-metal. Clang. Ting. What the what the hell was that?" 

He tried to avoid my gaze, and then spoke up. "The right half of my body is Mechatronic. It's the same thing we're going to do for you." That last part he looked up at me with hope.

"After all, a prodigy requires some respect. You survived in a desert for two years, alone." 

"I wasn't alone, I had Golganir." He laughed a little. 

"Anyway, I need you to clarify if you want to go on with the operation." He switched back to his business tone, and I nodded. 

"Who wouldn't? I mean, I get my arms back. Two years is pretty traumatic without arms." 

"Alright. We'll have it shipped in the next few hours."

I get my arms back. Wow. This is going to be fun. 

I turned around to Winter and asked her, "Hey is there a lounge on this ship? I'm a little tired." She reminded me of a soldier again when she pointed down the hall and made a "Left turn" with her hand. "Remember, you're following me." She let out an angered sigh, and rolled her eyes. Wow and I thought her father was a bitch. I attached Golganir to my back and walked down the hall, with Winter trailing behind.

I found my way into one of the sofas in the rather decently sized lounge. It took me a second to realize that Winter was standing right in front of me. "I allow you to sit. Please. You're scaring the crap out of me." I was getting some weird looks from the other civilians in the room. 

"You can't possibly be sitting here for the whole flight. Do something!" She said.

"I am doing something. I'm relaxing." She rolled her eyes and sat down on the recliner a few feet away.

"You're an ass." She said. 

I sat there wondering what it would be like having my arms back again. Well they'll obviously be mechanical. So that's a given. Color maybe? Eh, fuck it, white, like my hair. Will I be able to- I was pulled out of thought be Winter, who put down the magazine she was reading very ladylike. 

"Are you just going to sit there for the whole trip?" 

"Yes. Now, they call it a recliner for a reason. Lean back." 

She shook her head. "I'm not going to do everything you say." 

"Just trust me on this. Lean back." 

She did, and her eyes grew wide as the section for her feet swung up from under her.

"What is this contraption?" 

_God, you're sheltered._

"Weren't you a filthy rich kid?" She seemed extremely offended, then a little embarrassed, which was hinted by her looking down to the floor (yes, she was still sitting up, despite her having noticed the back of the chair falling). She then leaned back and opened up the magazine she was reading. I tilted my head and looked at the ceiling. After closing my eyes, I drifted to sleep without another disturbance.


	3. Chapter 3

I was awoken by an electronic bell echoing throughout the ship. Actually, I was awoken by the near earthquake conditions that followed. Who wouldn't be awoken by that? I got up an magnetized Golganir to my back and woke up Winter by knocking her forehead with mine, hard enough to make a clunk sound. She woke up near immediately, and before she could yell at me for such a rude awakening, she remembered and said under her breath, "Right, no arms."

I mean yeah, but do you have to remind me? It still hurts having stubs. 

We both ran to the bridge. 

Let me rephrase that, I followed her to the bridge. 

As soon as we entered, Ironwood was yelling at the captain. "Why did you take down our cloaking? You know we aren't very welcome in Grink airspace!" Ok, I've heard my fair share of weird words on the few hours I've been on this ship. First, Mechatronic, next wait I forgot that one, and finally Grink? What the hell kind of a word is Grink!?

"What's going on?" I asked. 

General Ironwood looked at me and said firmly, "Shut up." He then continued to attack the captain verbally. I finally shut him up by slamming Golganir into the floor in front of him. 

"I don't understand anything that's going on here and neither does your lieutenant, but we would like to." 

"All you need to know Talos, is that we're handling it." 

God, I hate it when people tell me that kind of shit.

"But I WANT to know more." Winter put her hand on my shoulder to stop me, but when I turned around, my face blatantly told her, 'I've got this.' After a moment of awkward silence, Ironwood started explaining. 

"We're under attack by the Grink. They're an extremely territorial race of beings that we happened to piss off a little while back. We have this under control." One of the officers on bridge yelled out as if on cue, "Captain, we just lost our left-back engine."

Ironwood looked at him with such a rage the room seemed to be under some kind of insane pressure. "Get me Hail with Alpha-Sigma." Three beeps followed his words and the captain of that ship appeared in a holo-message in front of the captain. He saw Ironwood and stood up and out of his chair, and saluted him.

"Sir, we're doing everything we can." 

The enraged general didn't seem to care. 

"Fire at will, Captain." 

The holo-message concluded with him saying all military-like "Yes sir."

Seconds later, ships on the front view windshield started exploding one by one, somewhat in a beat. The debris slid off the shields and flew behind minutes our ship was back at cruising, and we were no longer in any immediate danger.

The captain tapped the left keyboard a couple of times, and then started speaking: "Ladies, gentlemen, and crew aboard the A.N.S. Nightfury; We had faced a little problem with our enemies a few minutes ago but now we are out of harm's way. We will be landing in Vale at approximately 04:00, and the current time is 02:37. We apologize for any interruptions; please continue with your business. Captain Helios out."

I, myself had considered the captain's little speech short but effective.

General Ironwood turned to me and put a hand on my left stub-shoulder. 

"Alright. I apologize for my behavior, and I hope you can forgive me. The order on your new arms was placed about six hours ago and will arrive in 14 hours." 

_14 hours? This is amazing! God, I've spent two years without the fuckers and now I get them back? WOO HOO WOO HOO WOO HO-_ I was pulled out of thought by him addressing the captain.

"This is Captain Helios. He pilots not only the A.N.S. Nightfury, but he also pilots the A.N.S. Warhawk, which is my private ship. We're friends enough to yell and scream at each other, so this is a usual thing. 

The Captain Helios shot up, "Actually it's pretty much just you yelling and screaming, while I sit there and attempt to act rational."

"Anyway Winter, I want you here on the bridge for a bit. Talos, I'm going to have to ask you to leave." I nodded, and got in the shiny metal elevator and took it down to the third platform. I was on the sixth, and it stopped at both fifth and fourth, which was annoying. 

When I got to my platform, I decided that I wanted food. I hadn't eaten anything for two days and you can thank Winter for that.

I made my way to the mess hall while getting odd stares from the other passengers on board. I was walking towards the Vale food place and got in line. The person in front of me kept turning around to look at me, and the person behind me, once there was one, wouldn't stop staring at my stubs. 

"Look, I'm just like everyone else on this ship, and I would appreciate it if you would treat me the same."

No, that wasn't me that said that.

"Just leave me alone!" a rabbit faunus was yelling at someone who was pulling on her ears. Another woman in a beret and aviators and yelled at him, "Hand off her, or you'll have to answer to me." Two guys came out of the shade and stood behind her.

I, being the natural-born hero, walked up to the group and stood before them. The one in the beret and sunglasses froze as she turned to look at me. I said, somewhat referring to the man now on my left, "Do we have a problem here?" He stood there then said to me, "Yeah, she was trying to pickpocket me! All these faunus ever try to do is steal from the successful humans!"

I don't know if it was like a reflex or a coincidence, but the four of us protecting the faunus girl in perfect synch shouted out, "EXCUSE ME!?" The beret chick and I continued to argue at him in synch. 

"I don't know what kind of hole you crawled out of, but Fauness have the same rights as humans!" 

Then we stared at each other for like ten seconds. Then she punched me in the side. "Stop mimicking me."

"Stop mimicking me!" I said.

"You started it!" 

"No, I was saying it from my heart!" 

"That's bullshit!" 

Just then, the taller of the two guys on my right stepped between us and tried to calm us down. The beret chick just pushed him out of the way and said "Back off Yatsuhashi." Then after that, she shut up, because she had nothing left to say.

"Talos Isai please report to the bridge." The dull voice of the captain ran over the loud speaker. The woman in front of me put her hands on her hips and leaned to one side. "It looks like the Silver Prodigy is needed elsewhere." I walked away from her and decided that she was unsafe to hang out any longer. I might lose another limb if I piss her off. I made my way to the elevator and traveled all the way to the sixth platform in one go with no stops. Sweet. 

The elevator doors opened to reveal a disgruntled Winter and the whole crew on the bridge standing up and staring at me.

I must've have done something really stupid for them to be staring at me. "Talos, we have an offer for you." General Ironwood announced, breaking the silence. "Winter and I have decided that as soon as you figure out your amnesia problem, you can become an Atlesian Specialist."

Okay, I'm drunk… They did not just offer me that job. 

"It's a tough decision I know, but I'm right here if you decide your answer." I stood there for ten and a half seconds, listening to my heart beat over his words. I felt a familiar burning on my back, like back in the desert, the third night I was in there alone. I remember the pain vividly.

It stung- burned- as if… someone was branding me. The pain continued to build and increase and it just got worse from there. I collapsed to the floor, now writhing, spazing out in agony. Winter ran to my side, and tore off my shirt to check my back. I can't quite make out what she said, but I think she said my symbol was glowing, as if it were burning.

Let me give you a brief history of this mark: My mother and father used to be the top two assassin hunter and huntress. One day, The White Fang set a trap while they were on a mission, and they were never heard from again. They took me, and another girl… I can't seem to remember her name… and they branded us with the symbol of repentance. I only ever felt it burn this bad back then.

The doctor on the bridge couldn't get close to me, mainly because I was spazing too much. I just kept yelling and screaming right there, I even was crying. Then suddenly… it stopped.

-o0 Seven hours later: 09:52 0o-

Where am I…? What is this…? I woke up on a bed. Sitting up, I felt a huge tight spot on my back, I couldn't even lift my shoulder blades. 

"Talos? Are you awake?" A woman in a white military uniform with white hair came up to by bed and stood over me. "You had kind of a panic attack on the bridge… after a few minutes you just stopped and passed out. The mark on your back… it was glowing bright orange."

What the hell was she talking about? I don't even know if she's talking to me, so I sat there saying nothing. 

"Talos? Are you okay?"

"Uh, are you talking to me?" 

I pointed to myself. "Obviously." She said. "The only other person alive in here is me. And I don't talk to myself." 

Jeez… Ice Queen much? 

"Uh… I don't know this Talos you're talking about." 

After I said that, she retorted, "Look, I'm not here to play games. I'm here because I want your answer to General Ironwood's question." 

"Who the hell is General Ironwood?" 

"Talos, stop playing around." 

"Who is Talos?" 

"Stop fucking with me!" 

"Answer my goddamn question! Who am I!?"

There was silence in the room after that. "Wait…" She paused. She asked me to roll over on my stomach. I was a little reluctant at first, after this woman walks into my life and starts screaming at me about random people. But when I did, she gasped and stepped back. 

"I've seen this before… but I thought she died in the explosion…" Playing the pronoun game eh? Well, fuck you too.

She traced the symbol along my back with her finger, and then asked me to turn over again. "Don't move." She told me, as she placed her palm over my bare chest. Then I felt something… cold… on my back. I started seeing pictures of her; a man in a white uniform… a rabbit faunus… a desert… memories burnt themselves into my mind, thoughts, emotions, all of it.

"It's coming back now, isn't it?" she asked. 

"Well, if my name isn't Talos." She smiled, and then General Ironwood came in. She turned to him, and in a reporter-like tone, she told him, 

"The Black Witch. She drew this on him." 

Then I cut in. "Actually it was… The White Fang." 

"She's with the White Fang!?" The general ask-yelled. 

"How could this happen… She died in the explosion. Didn't she?" 

Winter looked back at me. "That's what I said!"

"WHO THE FUCK IS THE BLACK WITCH!?"

"Right. You still are somewhat memorably damaged. She is a person with a semblance to remove memory. It's very convoluted and I'm not going to go into the semantics now but I would like to know where your sister is."

"Okay… What!?" General Ironwood sighed. 

"You forgot her too. Well. Shit. So you remember the Queen? The mission you never finished?" I nodded. How could I forget that awful creature? 

"Well I guess the time does call for me to explain. When she draws her mark on you, which by name is called the Symbol of Repentance, it affects your memory by tying it to important people in your life. When you cut ties with that person, or they cut ties with you, the mark will burn out the memories tied to that person, and the person themselves. Apparently Winter was important to you, and one of you did something to upset the other's ties, so that's what triggered his attack on the bridge."

This guy knows how to rant.

He kept talking about it and eventually he stopped. "Oh and by the way, your arms are in."


End file.
